DOCUMENT RESUME ED 111 037 CS 501 106 AUTHOR Avery, Robert K. TITLE PBS's Station Program Cooperative: A Political Experiment. PUB DATE Apr 75 NOTE 14p.; Paper presented at the Annual Meetingof the International Communication Association (25th, Chicago, Illinois, April 1975) EDRS PRICE MF-$0.76 HC-$1.58 Plus Postage DESCRIPTORS *Financial Support; *Material Development; *Programing (Broadcast); *Program Planning; *Public Television IDENTIFIERS *Public Broadcasting Service ABSTRACT The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) has developeda new means of financing a portion of PBS' national programing--the "Station Program Cooperative" (SPC). Established inApril 1974, the SPC is the product of a multifaceted attackon three critical and interrelated problems:(1) an increasing scarcity of funds for national programing; (2) a need for long-range financing for public broadcasting; and (3) political oppositionto a centrally administered public television system. TheSPC provides a mechanism for the nation's public television stationsto select desired programs from a pool of available offerings, thus dimishing central control of national program selection. By sharingthe production costs of the programs they select, the SPC tapsa new source of funding for national programs, thereby providingprograming that might otherwise be unavailable. And finally, byaddressing itself to the problems of political opposition toa centrally administered system and developing a strategy for internal economicstability, the SPC indirectly addresses the problem of long-rangefinancing. (LL) *********************************************************************** * Documents acquired by ERIC include many informal unpublished * * materials not available from othersources. ERIC makes evIry effort * * to obtain the best copy available. nevertheless,items of marginal * * reproducibility are often encountered and thisaffects the quality * * of the microfiche and hardcopy reproductions ERIC makesavailable * * via the ERIC Document Reproduction Service (EDRS)4EDRS is not * * responsible for the quality of the original document.Reproductions * * supplied by EDRS are the best thatcan be made from the original. * *********************************************************************** sv U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH. EDUCATION &WELFARE NATIONAL INSTITUTE' F EDUCATION THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN REPRO DUCED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED FROM THE PERSON OR ORGANIZATION ORIGIN ATING IT POINTS OF VIEW OR OPINIONS STATED 00 NOT NECESSARILY REPRF SENT OFFICIAL NATIONAL INSTITUTE uF EDUCATION POSITION OR POLICY Department of Communication University of Utah PBS's STATION PROGRAM COOPERATIVE: A POLITICAL EXPERIMENT PERWSSiON THIS COPT. by RIGHTED MATE EN GRANTED BY Robert K. Avery obert ery TO ERIC AND OfIGANIZA S OPERATING UNDER AGREEMENTS WITH THII NATIONAL IN- STITUTE OF EDUCATION, REPRO- DUCTION OUTSIDE THE ERIC TSTEM QUIRES PERMISSION OF THE RIGHT CWNER A Paper Presented at the TwentyFifth Annual Convention International Communication Association April 23, 1975 2 The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) has embarked on a new cooperative effort which has the potential to dramatically change the economic and decision-making structure of the public television industry.This advance- ment has been realized through the adoption of a new means of financing a portion of PBS's national programming -- the "Station Program Cooperative" (SPC).Born in April, 1974, following months of planning and discussion, the SPC represents the product of a multi-faceted attack on three critical and inter- related problems:1.) an increasing scarcity of funds for national programming; 2) a need for long-range financing for public broadcasting; and 3) political opposition to a centrally administered public television system. Addressing the last of these problems, the SPC provides a mechanism for the nation's public television stations to select desired programs from a pool of available offerings, thus diminishing central control of national pro- gram selection.By sharing the production costs of the programs they select, the SPC taps a new source of funding for national programs, thus providing programming that might otherwise be unavailable. And finally, by addressing itself to the problems of political opposition to a centrally administered system and developing a strategy for internal economic stability, the SPC indirectly addresses the problem of long-range financing. A Rationale for the SPC Since its inception, PBS has provided a national program schedule funded through a variety of sources;the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), foundation and corporate underwriters, and to a lesser degree, locally- produced programming which is made available to PBS free of charge.During the past three years, however, this funding picture has changed radically. The Ford Foundation, the earliest and most generous public television bene- factor, has announced its intention to phase out its funding within the next three 3 -2- to four years. 1The Corporation for Public Broadcasting had been the largest single contributor to national programming, but at the insistence of many stations, CPB is earmarking an increasingly larger share of its funds for local, rather than national use.Table I provides a summary of past and projected CPB funding allocations.Most noticeable of several trends are the substantially growing Community Service Grants (from $2. 9 million in 1971 to $24 million in 1975) and the near-static national program-- ming funds, increasing at less than an inflationary rate (from $8. 7 million in 1971 to $11. 2 million in 1975). 2In fact, the reduction in national program funding from 1973 to 1975 represents a critical cut-back in direct CPB support.In terms of total income available for national programming, the decline in funding is vividly displayed in Figure I.Without the dollars pro- vided through the SPC, total funds would have plummetted from $37. 8 million in FY 1974 to $26. 2 million in FY 1975, or accounting for inflation, $13. 7 million (based on a constant 1971 dollar value). [Place Table I and Figure I here. ] While the short -term economic need for the SPC was obvious, the political and ultimately the long-range funding issues also provided ample justification. As any mass communication student knows, long-range financing has been a major objective of the public broadcasting industry since its inception.The framers of the Carnegie Commission Report, Public Television: A Program for Action, recognized the need for a stable, in- sulated source of on-going financial support, and included enlarged federal funding as one of their twelve recommendations to the American people. 3 But the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 which resulted from the Commission's work contained no provision for long-range funding.Public broadcasters Ju A. -3- and their supporters in Congress and the WhiteHouse all recognized the need, but could not reach an agreement on the termsof such financing. This problem became readily apparent to everyoneconcerned when, in June, 1971, President Nixon's newly-formedOffice of Telecommunications Policy (OTP) drafted a five-year funding bill whichprovided for both facilities and programming needs. 4 Had the proposed bill been foundacceptable to all elements of the public broadcasting community and Congress,it could have resulted in federal appropriations of $93 million in FY 1973and $100 million in FY 1974, instead of the $35 million and $47. 75million which the Corporation for Public Broadcasting did receive.However, realizing the proposed legisla- tion was doomed without industry-wide support,OTP withdrew the bill, declar- ing it would draft another when the public broadcastingindustry could agree on its provisions.In October of that year, OTP's former Director,Clay T. White- head, expressed his dissatisfaction with public broadcasting ingeneral and the centralization issue in particular when he addressed the47th annual convention of the National Association of Educational Broadcastersin Miami Beach. 5 The perceived climate of White House hostilitypersisted until earlier in 1974 when Mr. Whitehead finally introduced anotherfive-year funding bill.Coupled with an obvious desire to end his tenure as OTPDirector on a positive note, it would appear reasonable to speculate that theplanning, discussions and concensus which led up to the creationof the SPC played a significant role in Whitehead's willingness to propose his secondlong-range financing bill. The SPC is Born The fundamental concept upon which the SPCis based had been con- sidered during the debate which surrounded thePublic Broadcasting Act of 1967. At that time there were some who favored acompletely decentralized, "super- market" system, but exactly how the idea might beimplemented was not J yet known.In 1970, shortly after PBS was formed, HartfordGunn discussed the concept with his senior staff, but it remained onthe back burner pending resolution of more immediate problems. However,following Whitehead's ,-, Miamispeech, interest in a cooperative venturequickened. Knowing that ...... iti held the key to OTP's majorobjection tothe system--centralization--PBS's senior staff began spending more and more timerefining the cooperative con- cept. Early drafts of PBS's plan were met with disfavor by CPBPresident John Macy, as it appeared that such a plan would decreaseCPB's decision - making role.Seeking a broader sounding board for the early SPCidea, Hart- ford Gunn decided to present the plan to a June,1972 conference on public broadcasting in Aspen,